Individual drinking-cup.



G. W. WEBER.

INDIVIDUAL DRINKING CUP.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-25, 19H.

Patented Apr. 27, 1915.

M m Qmvk v/mu GEORGE W. WEBER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 AMERICAN CAN COMPANY, NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

INDIVIDUAL DRINKING-CUP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 2'7, T915.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE W. WEBER, a citizen of the United States, residing in New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Individu Drinking-Cups, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in dispensing packages for chewing gum and similar articles.

The invention consists in providing a conical drinking cup made from sheet metal or other suitable, stifi material with a removable diaphragm of paper or similar yielding material, located at such distance from the bottom of the cup as'will permit the ready nesting of several of the cups together for shipment and handling in sale. In the temporary chamber thus formed between the removable diaphragm and the bottom of the cup, the chewing gum or similar material to be dispensed is placed and held. And the invention further consists in the novel features described and claimed herein.

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved drmking cup package. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, showing several of the said packages nested together. Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of the drinking cups and Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Modern sanitary customs strongly suggest the desirability of individual drinking cups for use, especially by travelers. This invention is primarily designed to facilitate the more extensive introduction and use of such individual cups. By converting a suitably shaped drinking cup into a commercial package, without interfering with its utility as a cup, and without interfering with its capacity of being nested as such, a large number of such cups or commercial packages can readily be disposed of to I passengers.

on railroad trains, especially i there be placed in each cup for sale some generally used article, such, for example, as chewing gum, and which will not materially increase the price of the cup and its contents to the purchaser.

In said drawing A represents a drinking cup in the form of the inverted frustum of a cone. At the upper edge is a bead of false wiring a to form a convenient drinking edge.

The bottom B may be double seamed to the walls of the cup and slightly countersunk as shown, so that there is at the bottom a I cavity b. Formed in the sides of the cup ,at a point preferably near enough to the bottom so that the nesting of the cups will not be materially interfered with, is the circum ferential bead forming in the interior of the cup a corresponding circumferential groove C. A circular disk, cut out of pasteboard or similar material of a slightly yielding character is adapted to fit into this groove to form a removable false bottom D to the cup. In the shallow chamber beneath this false bottom D is placed the commercial article, to be sold with the cup, as for example, a package of chewing gum F. The

disk is very easily inserted by simply push a ing it down in place until its edges snap into the groove; and it may be removed by using a knife or other pointed instrument, after the manner of removing the'paper disk from a milk bottle. But it is more convenient, in view of the depth of the cup, to provide a cord G, secured to the disk, and by the aid of which the disk may be readily pulled out,

without the,.use of any puncturing instrument. Another important feature of my invention resides in 'the conical or tapered form of the drinking cups so that a number of them may be nested one within the other,

which permits of the feeding of the same easily by an automatic vending machine. The annular exterior projection formed by the said circumferential bead serves to hold out of contact with each other the tapered walls of the cups when'the latter are nested together in the form of a stack, and consequently said walls cannot adhere to each other so as to obstruct the removal of a cup.

It is practically imperative that such cups be arranged in a stack on account of the great amount of space which would be occupied by any other arrangement; and the weight of the superposed cups often causes them, when of ordinary construction, to jam and stick together so that it is difficult to separate and remove a desired cup. And this tendency is increased by adding to the cups the weights of other articles of sale. But by my improved construction of cups I prevent such sticking or adhering of the walls of the cups to each other, both by the said exterior circumferential projection, and by the arrangement of the false bottom, which latter supports the superposed cup before bottom seated in the said groove within the cup; whereby merchandise to be sold with the on may be contained therein beneath the sald false bottom, and the said false bottoms will support successively the nested cups of a stack and the said exterior annular projections will hold the tapered walls of the cups out of contact with each other so that the said walls will not adhere together.

GEORGE W. WEBER. Witnesses:

W. D. Fos'rnn, C. W. GRAHAM. 

